Big lunch packing, bus riding, homework doing, all day school kids.

Someone in their family gave them the greatest gift for Christmas, a full session and Cd with all their images.

I was excited to get to meet them and had so much fun with little Miss “M”.

Just 6 months old, she was full of expressions and personality.  We had a great time at the park and got some really great portraits.

I even got her to pose for some pictures with the kids.

They really enjoy spending time with her and we are lucky she lives so close.

She couldn’t wait for school so she could show her teacher and take home the “tooth-book”– a classroom book with a a cute brown bear, brown bear inspired rhyme..

“Tooth Fairy, Tooth Fairy what do you see, I see ___________’s tooth smiling at me”  You fill in the blank with your name and then attach a picture.

But before I got the picture printed and in the book Beauty lost another one, so we had 2 entries.

The kids have had a great time playing with her and she is as sweet as can be. When you go to touch her she melts into a flat little rug looking up at you with a ragdoll like face of nose and fur.

Her eyes blend right into her black fur and she looks like a sweet caricature of a puppy you’d see in cartoons.

“C” was not feeling the pink backdrop!

Little “M” was shy at first but as we got to know each other he was full of smiles!

Baby “F” was so cute and furry. After having a pee on Dad and most of my stuff he drifted off to la-la land with some help from my portable heater.

Both Leslie and Colin were great sports and very patient with the boys and with me hanging around. I think it resulted in some really nice shots..so I hope they will feel it was worth it

I can’t wait to work with them again as their family grows ….

They are so fun, the kids are excited.  I am excited.

The new year is full of promise!

I love to look back at the year before and think how grown up they looked to me then, and how little they look to me now.

C was the only one off today, Beauty doesn’t start Kindergarten till Friday.

I was proud of how independent he seemed, excited but not scared of what was waiting for him in 2nd Grade.

C was so excited,  just look how big his eyes are …

My hubby was a little excited himself…

Poor little Beauty was not tall enough to ride or drive yet…

But first they had to wait their turn for the track….

C was up first, with 3 other “little” boys…

He pushed that pedal to the floor and was off… and he was awesome!

Then it was the “big”  boys turn…

A wave for his adoring fans ….

The boys had a great time. I had fun taking pics and cheering them on.

As for Beauty… try not to feel too sad for poor Beauty.

She got to go shopping for a new dress after lunch!

We spent the day practicing an indoor set up for a special event mini session she will be having for spring portraits.. and of-course we also spent time chatting , sharing stories, feeding and occupying  our 5 kids total.

Our kids love each other, thank goodness and we even talked them into posing for us in-between playing.

Time came to leave as she was expecting company for her youngest birthday dinner.

We cleaned up our equipment and moved her furniture back and looked over to my oldest who was holding his belly on their couch.

She asked me if he was okay.  Being a non-alarmist type parent,  I told her he just needed to use the restroom.

He refused and we got in to our car packed full of equipment and drove to the end of their block when he shouted “go back, please I want to use the bathroom now”

We were back at her door and he slid inside without so much as a hello.

He then came back out and we were almost on our way again when unexpectedly,  he laid on the floor and proceeded to puke on her family room carpet.  I am talking gross, smelly hot dog chunks all over her freshly cleaned room–minutes before her family was going to arrive.

I wanted to cry.  I tried to scoop it up and was pleading with her to forgive me.  I was mortified.

She was calm and kept saying “don’t worry about it ” and rushed him to her bathroom ( I think her Pediatric Nurse alter ego took over)

The smell quickly filled her house and we chased the other kiddos up stairs as not to induce a “barf-o-rama”

She broke out her steam cleaner and phone and asked her family if they could possibly come over another night this week.

OH MY GOODNESS…she was rescheduling her son’s birthday.  I really wanted to die.  Her response was “He is three, he doesn’t know if his birthday is today or tomorrow”

She was so sweet, she helped me with C (who threw up 2 more times)  cleaned up the carpet and then asked if I wanted to stay for dinner——

Her hubby came home, not super pleased but took pity on us as well and even cooked me some of the best fajitas I have EVER had.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THERE ARE FRIENDS LIKE THESE OUT THERE!    Oh how I love them, seriously!

We  eventually got back on the road with an old tupperware and rag in tow (and yes C did make use of it on the way home as well, jeeze that was less than awesome).  He stayed home from school yesterday and after never breaking a fever, and keeping all his food down was declared cured and sent to school today.

It must have been something he ate,  jokingly my hubby has told him he is allergic to candy and sugar.  We will see how long that lasts!

Anyway  I just wanted to share an image we caught before the chaos…

Here she is with her sweet son, on his “real”  Birthday that was ruined by my son’s puke- fest.

I spent some time this morning at Beauty’s preschool.

She works so hard and I am proud of the progress she is making.

As I watched her I noticed something… all her work, pictures and paintings are done in just one color—hot pink.

She is a girl who knows what she likes, that is for sure.